Wed. 02/28 – The Apple Car Project Is Dead
The Apple car project is dead. Really, this time. We think. Google is working to fix Gemini. If you’re using Tumblr, your posts might soon be training OpenAI’s models. Klarna’s AI is doing the work of hundreds of humans. And another fever dream of the most recent boom years might be over. Links: Apple to Wind Down Electric Car Effort After Decadelong Odyssey (Bloomberg) Apple's Scrapped Car Project Means AI and Headset Bets Are More Urgent (Bloomberg) Google CEO calls AI tool’s controversial responses ‘completely unacceptable’ (Semafor) Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users’ Data to Train AI Tools (404 Media) Klarna says its AI assistant does the work of 700 people after it laid off 700 people (FastCompany) Thrasio, once king of e-commerce aggregation, files for Ch.11 (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 Feb 202417min
Tue. 02/27 – Gaming Continues To Be A Bloodbath
If you can believe it, MOAR layoffs in gaming. Big layoffs at Sony. We might see Meta’s first AR glasses later this year. The big hack affecting US pharmacies. Hopin enters the Deadpool. And yet another startup takes at swing at the delayed gratification gimmick for social media. Sponsors: Hims.com/ride Links: Sony is laying off 900 PlayStation employees (The Verge) Microsoft’s Mistral AI Investment to Be Examined by EU Watchdog (Bloomberg) Meta aims to reveal and demo Orion, its first true AR glasses, during its fall developer conference (Business Insider) US pharmacy outage triggered by 'Blackcat' ransomware at UnitedHealth unit, sources say (Reuters) Netflix confirms it’s cutting off Apple billing for legacy subscribers (The Verge) Hopin's UK business enters liquidation as it transfers HQ to the US (Sifted) The Supreme Court is about to decide the future of online speech (The Verge) Supreme Court Fears ‘Land Mines’ in Social Media Debate Over Free Speech (Bloomberg) Lapse, the app turning your phone into an old-school camera, snaps up $30M (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
27 Feb 202416min
Mon. 02/26 – Mobile World Congress Is All About AI This Year (Corrected)
Mobile World Congress kicks off this week, and I bet you can guess what the big theme this year is. All the hardware that is being announced to allow you to do AI on your existing devices. Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Ring, but Apple wants you to know it could do a ring too if it wanted to. And Lenovo’s see-through laptop is cool looking, but also, looking for a use case. Links: Samsung unveils the Galaxy Ring as a way to 'simplify everyday wellness' (Engadget) Apple Ponders Whether to Develop Smart Glasses, Fitness Ring (Bloomberg) Here’s why the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro headset is so expensive (CNBC) Au Large (Mistral.ai) Nvidia launches RTX 500 and 1000 Ada Generation laptop GPUs for AI on the go (VentureBeat) Lenovo’s laptop concept is fully transparent, but the point isn’t entirely clear (TechCrunch) Peering through Lenovo’s transparent laptop into a sci-fi future (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
26 Feb 202414min
(Bonus) Ed Zitron On The Social Landscape
Catching you up on the great Substack controversy and who is winning the race to be the new Twitter? Ed's new podcast is called Better Offline, which you can find wherever fine podcasts are found. And his newsletter is called: Where's Your Ed At? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 Feb 202425min
Fri. 02/23 – Reddit To IPO And Nvidia To The Moon
We have all the details of the Reddit IPO. And Sam Altman of all people makes an appearance in the S1! What that big cell phone outage yesterday was all about. Can Mark Zuckerberg be held personally liable in some of these Meta lawsuits? And given this weeks’ news, in the longreads, a long interview with Nvidia’s CEO predicting the future of computing. Sponsors: Robinhood.com/boost Links: Reddit files to list IPO on NYSE under the ticker RDDT (CNBC) Reddit is going public and inviting power users to invest (The Verge) AT&T outage caused by software update, company says (ABCNews) Meta’s Zuckerberg Seeks Out of Lawsuits Blaming Him for Instagram Addiction (Bloomberg) Bluesky opens up federation, letting anyone run their own server (TechCrunch) OnlyFans is the most lucrative side hustle, tax service shows (Mashable) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Tech Job Interviews Are Out of Control (Wired) Nvidia Hardware Is Eating the World (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
23 Feb 202416min
Thu. 02/22 – Nvidia’s Earnings Are Epic
The most important tech company in the world right now reported earnings yesterday, and they were historic. Stability AI is previewing Stable Diffusion 3.0. Google has to fix some if its AI image generation details. Amazon is getting aggressive about bringing sports to streaming. And has a startup we’ve never mentioned made a big AI breakthrough? Sponsors: Nutrafol.com/men and promocode RIDEHOME Links: Nvidia posts revenue up 265% on booming AI business (CNBC) Stable Diffusion 3.0 debuts new diffusion transformation architecture to reinvent text-to-image gen AI (VentureBeat) Google Pauses Gemini's Image Generation of People to Fix Historical Inaccuracies (PC Mag) Google pauses Gemini’s ability to generate AI images of people after diversity errors (The Verge) Tuned In: Amazon Said To Be Paying Record $120M To Stream NFL Playoff Game (Front Office Sports) Exclusive: Reddit in AI content licensing deal with Google (Reuters) The ‘Magic’ Breakthrough That Got Friedman and Gross to Bet $100 Million on a Coding Startup (The Information) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
22 Feb 202417min
Wed. 02/21 – Apple Has Quantum Encrypted iMessage
Signal finally rolls out usernames, but Apple goes one better security-wise, by quantum encrypting iMessage. Weirdly, Apple also launched a standalone sports scores app. Gemma is an open-source flavor of Gemini from Google. And Reddit wants to reserve some IPO shares for its users. Links: Signal Finally Rolls Out Usernames, So You Can Keep Your Phone Number Private (Wired) Apple is hardening iMessage encryption now to protect it from a threat that doesn't exist yet (Apple Insider) Apple’s iMessage Is Getting Post-Quantum Encryption (Wired) Apple Sports: New Free App Provides Real-Time Scores and Stats, Designed to Drive Apple TV Tune-In (Variety) Apple launches Apple Sports app with scores and betting odds (The Verge) Apple says iPhone 15 batteries have a longer lifespan than initially thought (9to5Mac) Apple retroactively doubles the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro’s battery lifespan (Macworld) Google Gemma: because Google doesn’t want to give away Gemini yet (The Verge) Meet 'Groq,' the AI Chip That Leaves Elon Musk’s Grok in the Dust (Gizmodo) Reddit Plans to Sell Stock to Loyal Users in Unusual IPO Wager (WSJ) Ed Zitron YouTube Bonus Episode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
21 Feb 202415min
Tue. 02/20 – LockBit Ransomware Gang Taken Down
Perhaps the biggest law enforcement action against a ransomware gang ever. Once again, you could view other people’s cameras on your Wyze camera. How Anthropic is raising to do battle with OpenAI. Are the VCs flocking back to San Francisco? And comprehensive proof that defense tech is the new VC hotness. Links: FBI Seizes LockBit Hacking Websites in Ransomware Disruption (Bloomberg) Wyze outage led to the cameras of 13,000 customers being shown to other users (9to5Google) Reddit Signs AI Content Licensing Deal Ahead of IPO (Bloomberg) Inside the Funding Frenzy at Anthropic, One of A.I.’s Hottest Start-Ups (NYTimes) Tech Leaders Fled San Francisco During the Pandemic. Now, They’re Coming Back. (WSJ) UK, Allies Look to Arm Ukraine With AI-Enabled Swarm Drones (Bloomberg) How Silicon Valley learned to love America, drones and glory (Washington Post) Pursuing ‘American Dynamism,’ Andreessen Horowitz Ups Its Game in DC (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 Feb 202416min
